Actions
Actions are the major things happening in a Stellar Power over the course of the the round. Is construction happening on a massive monument to a god or ancient leader? Are armies being raised to answer the call of their sovereign? Perhaps your Stellar Power is hosting or sending its finest diplomats to an international event to mingle with galactic leaders? If you want your Stellar Power to do something and have an impact on the wider galaxy, use an action. There are a few specially defined actions discussed below. All actions take effect at the end of the round (unless they have an effect that is delayed even longer). So, for instance, if you set up a trade route for another resource, you will not have the resource until the following round. If you pursue an investigation, the results will be announced in the round opener for response in the next round. Types of Action Special Actions Special actions are actions you can only take when your leader has at least a 5 or a 10 in the attribute in question. Special actions are limited to a single-use 5 and a single-use 10 per attribute per leader. Special actions need not be used immediately upon attaining a 5 or 10 but may be held (or never used) at the discretion of the player. A 10 special may be used as a second 5 special if desired by the player but will count as a full use of the 10 special action. Resolution Actions Resolution actions can only be used when you have a 10 in the given attribute, and apply to a single dice roll. This represents expenditure of a great deal of money, resources and other capital on a single venture. You automatically roll the maximum possible on that roll; however, the attribute in question is reduced to 1 for the next round of play before returning to 10 the round after that. Resolution actions may be used an unlimited number of times per leader, though only once per round. Additionally, Military resolution actions may not be used to affect battle rolls. Projects Projects: Some things may take more than one round to complete. These are called ‘projects’, and take multiple actions to complete. Some take only two actions, like slightly improving or maintaining infrastructure. Some are ‘Great Projects’ that take 5 actions, like overhauling a region’s infrastructure. Building a large trade fleet, renovating a large city or rural portion of your region, or gathering the books to create a massive library are examples of 5-action Great Projects. Other players may assist with completion of a project or Great Project. Great Projects have small mechanical effects determined by negotiation between the player(s) and the GM. They may also serve as justification for technologies or play host to more dramatic locations for events. Great Projects, with an end goal of obtaining a regional bonus, are typically five actions long. However, the longer the Great Project (ie, the more actions it takes) the more likely you will be able to convince the Head GM to allow you to have the regional bonus you want. And to clarify: Great Project Bonuses only effect a single region, and must be approved by the Head GM before the bonus applies. Military-based Great Projects to make a “bigger ship” will never provide a regional bonus but a big enough ship - in combination with a future Military technology - may provide additional combat bonuses, if that is the route you wish to take. Speak with the Head GM for approvals. Secret Actions Secret actions are actions which are known only to you and the GM. Such actions need to be sent to the GM for verification, otherwise they will have no effect. Secret actions count towards the Intrigue attribute for the purposes of increasing scores, and will use this score in determining success. Only one secret action can be taken per round. Special actions (5s and 10s) cannot be secret unless using the Intrigue attribute’s special actions. Other players cannot investigate what you have been/are doing with your secret actions directly (e.g. “Intrigue Investigate Power A’s Secret Action”), but the results of a secret action may be investigated and your hand in them discovered. Secret actions can be countered if correctly, or mostly-correctly, deduced by an opposing Stellar Power. Secret actions are always full actions, rather than sub-actions or non-actions, and count as Intrigue actions for purposes of increased attributes. Moving armies and attacking other players with military units can not be secret actions. Using an Intrigue Secret Action counts for increasing the Intrigue stat during the round that it is used. Should the action involve a roll, Intrigue is used instead of the stat involved, with one exception: special actions. There are a few special actions that can be done secretly, and when they are, those will always use their associated stat. All other, non-special actions will use Intrigue when rolling a Secret Action. Technologies may be used to alter this ruling to suit a player’s desires, with GM Approval. Sub-Actions Sub-actions are where a single action can be taken that has the effect of several other actions. The most common occurrence for this is at events, where a player can perform several diplomatic actions such as betrothals, technological trades, or treaty signings for the cost of one action. In general, unless specified otherwise in the rules, if an action must be rolled for or has a mechanical effect, it probably can't be a sub-action and will take a full action of its own. Non-Actions Non-actions are anything that a player does in their turn that does not cost an action. A player can take any number of these, some of which may have a mechanical effect. Changing leaders is a non-action, as is allowing foreign troops passage, and resisting conversion or buyout attempts. Non-actions take effect at the end of the round along with regular actions. The following lists are a mostly complete set of sub-actions, non-actions, and actions that a player can do as part of Events and/or having Embassies, which will be explained further in the rules. Event and Embassy Sub-actions *Transferring units, generals, technologies, Caller Fragments and other transferable entities to attendees *Becoming an attendee's vassal/Ending vassalship *Accepting/refusing treaties, agreements and favors *Exchanging diplomats or other characters *Exchanging Regions between players Embassy Only *(Passive) Reduces cost of Cultural Identity sharing *(Action) Exchanging/gifting Trade Posts Category:Rules Category:Empire 5